Orlando Pirates Secure 1-0 Victory Against Las Palmas
Orlando Pirates wanted answers in Spain. On a hot night against Las Palmas, they found at least one of them: defensive resolve.
A 1-0 win over the Spanish side will not rewrite any record books, but for Abdeslam Ouaddou it meant something deeper. This was the night his team finally stopped leaking goals and started looking like a unit built for a long, unforgiving season.
A clean sheet with a point to prove
This tour has tested Pirates. New demands, new structures, European opposition, and a nagging problem at the back. They had been conceding in every game. The message from the technical team was blunt: that had to stop.
Against Las Palmas, it did.
Pirates kept their shape, stayed switched on, and closed gaps that had been yawning open earlier in the tour. The focus held across the full ninety minutes, not just in patches, and that is exactly what their head coach wanted to see.
“The players have been over 60 minutes, we pushed them for 90 minutes and I’m very happy about the performance,” Ouaddou said, underlining the physical and mental stretch he demanded. “The objective today was, of course, to create chances, and not to concede a goal, because we’ve been conceding goals since the beginning.”
The clean sheet was not a bonus. It was the brief.
Mixed results, rising levels
This was Pirates’ fourth outing of pre-season: two wins, one draw, one defeat. On paper, an ordinary set of results. On the pitch, the curve is heading the right way.
The performances have sharpened as the squad absorbs the intensity of Ouaddou’s methods. The legs are heavy, the sessions are hard, but the structure is clearer. The Las Palmas game showed a side beginning to trust its organisation as much as its flair.
That trust had already been tested. Against Al Ittihad, Pirates thought they had done enough. They walked away with a 3-3 draw and a sense of injustice.
“So yesterday, again, yesterday, I think I was very happy about the performance against Al Ittihad,” Ouaddou reflected. “Indeed, it was a 3-3 because we have scored one goal that the referee refused. It was not a handball, it was a chest from Tito.”
The frustration from that decision has not faded. Instead, it has been repurposed. “What I said to the boys, we need to find back our strength because it’s what makes the strength of Orlando Pirates,” the coach added.
The response in the next game suggested the players heard him.
Radiopane steps up as the kids seize their chance
The winner against Las Palmas came late and from the bench. Boitumelo Radiopane, thrown into the fray as a substitute, delivered with clinical precision.
One chance. One finish. Game decided.
It was not just the goal that pleased Ouaddou, but who was delivering it. This was a young Pirates side, deliberately so. He stacked his XI with prospects and asked them to handle European professionals and a complex tactical plan. They did not blink.
“This team is the most youngest team that I could have put during this camp,” he said. “And they really responded very well in terms of aggressiveness, in terms of organisation, tactically. Tactically, they were very clever.”
Those are big words from a coach who has demanded a lot in a short space of time. They were earned.
“So I think Orlando Pirates have a bright future with these young players,” he concluded, and on this evidence it is hard to argue. Radiopane’s late strike was the headline moment, but the real story lay in how comfortably the youngsters carried the tactical load.
One more test, with revenge on the line
Now comes the final act of the Spanish tour. One more game, one more chance to harden habits before the Betway Premiership begins to bite.
The camp has been intense by design. Heavy training, demanding opposition, and no room for complacency. The sense within the group is that they are not finished here. A decent tour could become a statement one with a strong closing performance.
“We still have one game, a tough one again. The next game against Neom will be a revenge for us,” Ouaddou said, making it clear this is not just another friendly. “And I will be happy if we can finish this camp with a victory.”
Pirates have found their defensive voice, unearthed more proof of their young talent, and rediscovered a little of that edge Ouaddou insists defines them.
Now they have to show they can carry it home.
